The initial legitimate US pressing has the multi-color logo. As in 1984 this seminal record was a massive crossover hit out of the box, and demand for the record was so high, the label didn't bother with the cool artwork and label-copy when they needed to deal with a surprise hit on their hands, so they rushed out the second pressing with very basic lettering and no logo-artwork, on a yellow (and also on a blue) label.

These pressings were also cut at STERLING and have the same dead-wax inscriptions as the first pressings.

The bootlegger/counterfeiter who released 95% of Danny Krivit's edits, the "Loft Classics", as well as the "Garage Classics" series a.o., pressed a counterfeit with a red-label that copied, though not exactly, the lettering and fonts of the yellow-label pressing. He recorded it directly from the vinyl version of the second, yellow label pressing and increased the amount of treble when he had his own, "in-house" lacquer-cutter re-master from the original wax.

The red-label counterfeit was not mastered at Sterling and is not a legitimate product.

Recommendations

Mesmirisingly great record. In England strangely it was the one that came out as by the Harlequin 4s in early 1986 that was the big version that you heard everywhere and was also remixed around the Acid House time in 1988.

My copy is exactly as the second release, one phone number, but the die mount circle on the label is wide, as in the first release. Stamps/etching correct. There were clearly many runs of this record, all slightly varying- If it has the sterling/EDP stamp, your on the right track... I'm sure there will be some fairly convincing bootlegs about, who knows, mine might be one of them- above all, enjoy the music.

There are yellow label promos with Promotion Copy Not For Sale underneath the credits. I personally saw several of them when this record was released in NY City in 1984. And, if the yellow label is the second pressing, then why is the stamper different than the one used on the first pressing with the multicolored logo label ?

You can call it Breakbeat, Electro or just 'influential' - the fact is that "Set It Off" was a trend-setter dance music; believe it or not, its funky-sophisticated Breakbeat line was made with the same Roland TR-808 that Ben 'Cozmo D' Cenac from Newcleus used to produce the all-time Electro classics "Jam On It", "Jam On Revenge", "Computer Age" and "Automan".
Cozmo D and Strafe and were big friends back then, and not long after "Jam On It" became a hit, Strafe decided to borrow Cozmo D's Roland TR-808 to make his own electronic production - "Set It Off" itself).
"Set It Off" was included later on several compilations such as "The Perfect Beats Volume 2" and "Disco Box Vol. 6 - Work It Out", standing the test of time; its lyrics were later copied by other artists on their club hits - specially the beginning which has the well-known quote "Yo want this party started right? Yo want this party startin' quickly... right?" whose first part was adapted years later on the House hit 'Kraze - The Party'.
The mixing part belongs to the multi-skilled DJ Walter Gibbons, an early Disco DJ who was resident at the Galaxy 21 Club on the seventies) and it is considered one of his best works ever.

This song was one of the best examples of New York Underground Music circa 1984. A small label from Brooklyn finds itself with a unique electro-funk cut that has every DJ in New York playing it in heavy rotation. This was in an era where The Paradise Garage & The Fun House clubs in Manhattan were running two different scenes. First being Larry Levan spinning to a more mature and sophisticated gay crowd and Jellybean who was spinning to the kids of The Bronx, Brooklyn & Queens (Later known as Bridge & Tunnel and included New Jersey). This song found huge success within both camps and with heavy radio support, it became the classic it is right up until today. Walter Gibbons provided the mix and was welcomed back to the scene after a long hiatus. This would be his last before his passing. The dub mix was long and had weird dub effects which made it an excellent mixing tool.

It was a New York disco-era deejay, Walter Gibbons, who pioneered many of the techniques of disco mixing that would become the lifeblood of house deejays-turned-producers in the `80's.
After years out of the spotlight, Gibbons resurfaced in 1984 with a mix of a 12-inch single called 'Set It Off' that would define the New York dance underground. It created a sensation at the Garage, where it was championed by Levan, and spawned countless remakes by the likes of C. Sharp and Masquerade and at least one answer single, Number 1's 'Set It Off (Party Rock)'.
Perhaps the definitive version of 'Set It Off' was Strafe's, with its mesmerizing vocal hook woven into a spare but hauntingly atmospheric rhythm bed.